A/N:Well, will you look at that? Another update!
I neglected much college work in favour of this chapter. I hope you're happy!
Haha, in all seriousness, though, thank you all for your support and reviews. This story means so much to me, and to get any kind of feedback on it pretty much makes my day. It's really been quite a ride over the past couple of years, and it's not over yet. So thank you :)
Previously: Scorpius tells Rose about his true feelings for her; a certain Hufflepuff complicates matters, however. James heads a new group of students called Secretkeepers who aim to undermine the action of Truthseekers in the school. He and Cassie are pursuing a friends-with-benefits type of relationship. Penny found out that Blaise Zabini is working with the Truthseekers. She is back in Hogwarts, hiding out in Nina Meyer's dormitory until James and co. can get further information from her. Rose has been researching wandless magic in hopes of gaining some understanding of Carlotta Pinkstone and the Truthseekers.
Disclaimer: Copyright J.K. Rowling
Chapter 27: Numb
At half past five on Friday morning, only a handful of people in the castle were awake.
Rose Weasley was awake, seated on her bed with the canopy drawn, her eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep as she stared fixedly at the candle that she had been trying to light all night using nothing but her mind.
Cassie Miller was awake, her arm thrown across James's body as she gazed up at the ceiling of the Gryffindor boys' dormitory.
Penny Alderton was awake in the dormitory beneath the lake, the sound of lapping water filling her ears until she thought she would go mad.
Scorpius Malfoy was awake, poring over the same book that he had been reading for days and making just as little sense of it as he had before.
And, in the Headmaster's office, Professor Godfrey Hobspawn was most definitely awake as he listened to the report of one of his lead Aurors, who had just flown in from the Ministry.
"Every wizarding home in Britain, you say?" He passed a hand over his scarred face and pinched the bridge of his nose to keep himself from yawning.
"To at least every home that has children in the school, including Muggleborns." The Auror held up the piece of parchment. "Do you wish to read it, sir?"
"I suppose I must." Hobspawn rummaged in the drawers of his desk and drew out a pair of spectacles, fixing them on. Then he took the parchment from the Auror and examined the writing himself, suppressing a sigh.
To the "Concerned Parent" who wished to remain anonymous,
Your recent letter raised much concern among myself and my colleagues, as we have had no reason in the past to suspect Professor - of abusing his position in the school in such ways as you have underlined. Though newly-appointed, - is a highly-trusted member of staff who has contributed to the school in many ways since - arrival. However, as the charges you have brought against - are of no trifling nature, we are duty bound to consider them, and I wish to assure you that such an investigation is ongoing. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further concerns.
Yours faithfully,
Sylvia Gamp
Chairperson of the Board of Governors at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Hobspawn put down the letter and met his Auror's gaze. "This is bad," the other wizard offered.
"Not just bad." The Headmaster examined the parchment again. "Clever. This 'concerned parent' blocked out the name of the professor before forwarding the letter to all of the households involved with the school as though out of concern for secrecy, though there can be no doubt as to whom it refers."
"No doubt." The Auror placed a hand on the desk. "And no doubt either, sir, as to who the 'concerned parent' really is."
"Indeed." Hobspawn shook his head, folding the letter up and replacing it in the envelope which the Auror handed him. Then he fixed the other wizard with his gaze. "Blaise Zabini thinks he'll throw the school into chaos with this letter. A security breach of this scale, involving all of these parents' addresses, would normally have that effect. But this has been no ordinary year."
"No, sir, it hasn't."
"I'll leave you to deal with him." Godfrey Hobspawn rose to his feet, moved past the Auror, then turned and placed a hand on the younger wizard's shoulder. "I'm trusting you not to let your personal experience with Zabini cloud your judgement, Alderton."
"No, sir," Geoffrey Alderton said levelly. "I'll see to it that I don't."
"I'm so sorry, Tony." Rose folded her hands in her lap, struggling to find more to say. Tony Mason sat beside her on the lone bench in the courtyard. Above them, the strong wind was spinning stray blossoms and leaves through the air. Some landed on the stone, on the bench, on the grass, in Rose's hair. She picked one out, examining it.
"So it's over," he said flatly.
"It's over," Rose said, and even as she spoke the words, she felt a powerful wave of relief. Her fingers picked at the petals, tossing them into the air as she continued, "I wish things could have been different, but..."
"Rose." Tony reached out and grasped her forearms. His grip was so tight that it hurt, but she couldn't wriggle out of it. She stared up at him, and found that it was no longer Tony Mason sitting beside her, but Scorpius. The petals had disappeared. His eyes were wide, fixed on hers. "Wake up."
"What?"
"Wake up," he said again, his voice louder this time, so loud that it filled Rose's ears and lifted to an unbearable pitch -
She awoke to sweltering heat.
"Rose!" a voice nearby cried, and she sat up in bed only to double over, coughing as smoke filled her lungs. Her hair fell over her face, and she peered through the strands to see that the canopy of her bed was on fire.
Instantly, her eyes darted to the candle. It was engulfed in an island of flame on her bedside table, which stood untouched. She must have dozed off, and it had lit itself... A few inches away from it lay her wand.
I did this. The strangest sense of elation came over her, even as her heart beat a frantic tattoo in her chest, and Rose gazed at the fire around her, drawn from her power.
"Rose, I can't stop it!" Jackie Saunders cried from across the dormitory, where she stood in her pyjamas with her wand raised, jets of water shooting out of the tip at intervals and vanishing uselessly in the air before they even reached the fire. "Do something!"
Rose's elation quickly evaporated as the wood of her four-poster bed began to creak in protest, the top sagging above her. The flame had reached the carpet of the dormitory floor now, and Jackie was nearly pressed flat against the window on the other side, her eyes wide in terror. "Rose!"
Concentrate. Come on. In her mind, Rose sifted through all that she had read on wandless magic, how it stemmed from strong emotion, how difficult it was to control - well, that was little help to her right now - how the key was visualisation and -
Strong emotion. Like she had been feeling in her dream. Relief at breaking up with Tony, and something else when she had seen Scorpius, something raw and burning and still flickering in her chest...
Rose focused on the emotion, let it overwhelm her as she shut her eyes, picturing the canopy on her bed as it was before, untouched by flame... willing the fire to disappear...
Jackie shrieked, and when Rose opened her eyes, she saw that the flames were raging more fiercely than before. She could feel the intensity of the heat on her face now; her hair was starting to crackle. Her vision was growing hazy with the smoke, her lungs seizing up.
Jackie shrieked again, and Rose realised she was saying something. Wand. Her wand - of course, how could she have been such an idiot? Darting forward, her hand closed around the wood, hot to the touch, and she shouted every counter-spell she knew, eyes screwed up against the smoke. The flames shot up around her, and then died into embers, crackling and sizzling against the fabric of her bed.
Pieces of ash were floating through the air, but the smoke had gone. Rose blinked, surveying the dormitory for damage. Apart from her bed and the carpet around it, which was singed, the flames had spread no further.
Jackie remained where she was, her hands gripping the windowsill for support as she stared at Rose, who looked back at her sheepishly. "What. The hell."
"I think I forgot to blow out my candle," Rose offered weakly.
Nina Meyer was surprised when she returned to her dormitory to find Penny Alderton studying.
When she had left it a mere twenty minutes earlier, the Gryffindor witch had been nothing more than a lump in Laura Runcorn's old bed, and now she was sitting at her desk, fully dressed, her hair tied back as she read. Strands of hair came loose from her bun every time she shifted in her chair, but she did not seem to notice, not so much as raising her eyes as Nina shut the door behind her.
"You're up early."
Penny's eyes flicked up to meet Nina's. They had a glazed look about them. "Couldn't sleep."
"The sound of the lake water keep you awake?" Nina's voice floated out through the bathroom door as she stepped inside, pulling off her sweat-stained gear and splashing some cold water on her face. "You get used to it after a while. I did."
"A while," Penny echoed. She tapped a foot against the leg of the desk, her face slightly turned towards the bathroom door now. "I don't suppose you could tell me how long that while is going to be."
"Couldn't even if I knew." Nina emerged from the bathroom, her hair loose and a baggy sweatshirt on that fell to just above her knees. "Which I don't."
Penny said nothing, resuming her reading. Nina bustled around the dormitory behind her, throwing books in a satchel, attempting to brush her tangled hair and promptly giving up, folding some clothes into her drawer.
"How about you?" Penny said at last. Nina turned to look at her questioningly, a clean shirt in her hands. "Why are you up so early?"
"I'm not a morning person or anything," Nina said, her statement punctuated a moment later by a yawn. "But I needed to return some books to the library. I knew I'd forget later; Fridays are always so busy."
Penny muttered something under her breath. Nina raised her eyebrows delicately. "What was that, Alderton?"
"I said at least you get to leave this room," Penny said with emphasis. Her foot tapped against the desk leg again, an irregular rhythm.
"My heart bleeds for you." Nina cast a disbelieving look at Penny Alderton's back. "You know, you could be a bit more grateful."
"You sound just like Orchid."
A breath of silence, and then Nina shut the drawer of her dresser with a snap. "Don't compare me to Orchid Ottelby."
"She kept telling me I should be grateful, too, when I was a prisoner in Zabini's house."
Nina, who had been on the verge of giving a sharp retort, paused. "Blaise Zabini's house? That's where you were hiding out?"
Penny turned slowly in her chair to meet her gaze. Her eyes looked more alert now. "I know how this works. I know that the reason you're keeping me here is so that I'll give you information about the Truthseekers. That means the sooner I help you, the sooner I can go."
She lifted something off the desk and waved it at Nina. "Which is why I'm going to give you this."
Nina frowned at the parchment in Penny's hand, but did not move forward to take a closer look. "Go where?" She met the other witch's gaze, tilting her head at an inquisitive angle. "Where do you expect to go? Do you think you're just going to be let off after what you've done?"
"What I think doesn't matter," Penny said calmly. "Does it?"
Nina held her gaze a moment later, then took a few steps forward, reaching for the parchment. Penny stood as Nina examined it. "Well?"
"I can't make sense of this. What is it, some kind of map?"
"I copied it from one of the books in Zabini's study. It was an old collection of writings, about the Chamber of Secrets. There's a second entrance." Penny moved to stand beside Nina, leaning over her shoulder to point at a spot on the map. The Slytherin witch stiffened. "See, there's the boathouse. The entrance is on one of the lower levels, behind the tunnel to the open lake. If you and your friends can gain access to it, then you can get hold of that Basilisk venom on Nott's ingredient list."
"Just how many of the details of our meeting did you happen to overhear?" Nina said suspiciously, but Penny just shrugged, drawing back from her once more.
"You're welcome. There's just one problem, of course. You might need a Parselmouth to get in, and, well... I'm not sure there are any alive."
"Maybe we can get around that, somehow," Nina said absentmindedly, her finger tracing the outline of the boathouse on the map. "You know, Alderton, you're not exactly useless."
Penny just smiled.
"Have you been here all night?"
Scorpius cracked an eyelid open. His vision swam for a moment, and then he saw his cousin, Tobias Greengrass, standing before him in the Slytherin common room with no small measure of amusement on his face.
"Not all night..." Scorpius began, rubbing his eyes and the bridge of his nose as he stretched and winced. He ached all over, and couldn't tell whether it was from training or sleeping in a cramped armchair. Possibly both.
"You're such a swot," his cousin said gleefully.
"I am not a swot - oi..." Scorpius's protest was only half-hearted as Tobias snatched the book out of his lap.
"What's this? Ancient Blood Magick. It looks boring." His cousin thumbed through the pages, mumbling phrases he read on them. "Bound to the caster... rite of sacrifice... blood of the... Oh."
Scorpius craned his neck. The page that had made Tobias pause was the one depicting the truth symbol: the same one that Torrance had bullied his cousin into drawing around the school. "Look familiar?" he said dryly.
His cousin did not speak. He did not so much as look at Scorpius as he drew his wand from his pocket, eyes still fixed on the symbol.
"Tobias?" Scorpius said uncertainly. "What are you - "
His cousin drew the wand across his own palm in a slicing motion, and blood trickled out, landing on the page before him. And all at once, Scorpius understood. Days of reading about the symbols and he had learned nothing of value, yet this - this action of his cousin's...
"Tobias." He rose from his chair in one quick movement, even as his muscles groaned in protest, and took hold of the younger wizard's shoulders. "Tobias. Look at me."
His cousin started, then his eyes rose to meet Scorpius's, the book clattering to the floor as he did so. He curled his fingers over the cut on his palm, wincing a little as though he were feeling the pain for the first time. "W-what just happened?"
"You got a paper cut," Scorpius said, the calm in his voice belying the excitement he felt. If this meant what he thought it meant - "Here, let me heal it for you."
Someone was knocking at the dormitory door.
"Go hide. You've got to go hide," said a voice near Cassie's ear, before she had even registered where she was. Her clothes were pushed into her arms, and then someone - James - was pulling her out of his bed and steering her towards the bathroom. She padded in, somewhat self-consciously, for somewhere during the whole hasty process she had become aware that she was naked.
The bathroom was in as much a state as could be expected of one belonging to a group of seventh-year boys. The toilet seat was up, a carpet of hair covered the floor of the bathtub and the sink was unspeakably grimy. Cassie grimaced at the odour and kept the door a little ajar as she pulled on her school robes. James was talking to the person at the door now, his voice so low that she could barely make out the words.
"... that couldn't wait until later?"
"This couldn't wait," the other voice - Albus's - said, urgently. "He says he has new information - wants us to meet him..."
"Fine," James said. "I'll be down in a minute."
There was the sound of the door shutting, then a moment later, James's face appeared at the gap in the bathroom door. Smiling sleepily at him, Cassie stretched out her arms and wound them around his neck. He took gentle hold of them as he stepped inside. "I've got to take care of something."
"What?" Cassie said, mid-yawn.
James shrugged, detaching her arms from his neck in the process. "I'll tell you later." He turned his head slightly at a sound in the dormitory behind them, then looked back at Cassie. "You should go now. Before my roommates wake up."
Cassie imitated his movement. "I'll just go down with you. There won't be any teachers around yet."
"No," James said quickly, then, a little more quietly, "No. It's better if we go separately."
"You don't want people to know about us?"
"Not yet." James tilted his head at her. "And you said you were fine with that."
"I was, but..."
James glanced over his shoulder again. "Listen, Miller, now really isn't the time - "
"OK, OK, I'm going." Cassie gathered up her satchel and pushed past him into the dormitory, tiptoeing out of the door. She was on the stairs when James came up beside her, slid an arm around her waist and dropped a kiss on her cheek.
"I'll see you later," he murmured, and she turned her face up to his, but then he was gone.
Rose Weasley poked her head into the trophy room, feeling more than a little foolish.
"Peeves?" she called for at least the third time, but answer came there none. The trophy room was deserted. Odd - considering that she'd seen him darting in there minutes before, cackling. But then not so odd, considering that it was Peeves and he enjoyed hiding.
"Peeves, I have something for you," she said loudly, turning in place. "And I don't have time to wait for you to come out."
More silence. Then the shattering of glass. Rose jumped, and twisted just as the poltergeist burst out of one of the trophy cases and zoomed above her head.
"It's little Weaselbee!" he cried gleefully, then promptly began to pelt her with ink pellets. Rose stood patiently as they soaked into her clothes and hair, black dripping down her face. "Come to visit old Peevsie, have you? Want to learn a few of his tricks?"
"How did you - " Rose stopped herself just as another ink pellet burst over her, this one close to her ear. She was starting to get a little annoyed. "Peeves, I have a present for you. You just have to answer one question."
"No questions," Peeves giggled, whirling down the length of the room and darting back in the blink of an eye. "Questions are no fun. But this is!"
An instant later, Rose's face was covered in chalk dust. She blinked, trying to rub it out of her eyes, and then sneezed, while Peeves laughed heartily somewhere above her. "Oh, for Merlin's sake..."
It had been a mistake to come here. The idea had struck her on the way to breakfast, when her mind had been full of what had happened in the dormitory this morning. Who better to consult on the matter of chaotic magic than the poltergeist himself? And what was more, she could trust him not to be concerned by her questions, as the other ghosts doubtless would be.
Gathering what little shreds of dignity she had left, Rose drew the Dungbomb out of her pocket and rolled it across the floor. Peeves stilled for a moment, then made a dive for it.
"There's more where those came from," Rose told him as he seized it up with gusto. "A whole supply, just for you. It was all I could get at short notice. I'll tell you where it is - just please answer my question." She had called in a favour with Hugo this morning, telling him that she wouldn't deduct points for harbouring confiscated items if he lent them to her. Like a good brother, he had obliged.
Without a word, Peeves fired the Dungbomb straight at her. As she had expected - and why she had drawn a protection spell around herself moments before. It deflected a few inches from her, striking the wall instead. Her nostrils filled with a foul smell like rotting eggs, that made her stomach turn. She played up her disgust, and the poltergeist laughed all the harder.
"So Weaselbee has a question," he said between snorts of laughter, materialising before her in a heartbeat, so close that she flinched. He hovered there, orange eyes slitted with amusement. "But does Peevsie have the answer?"
"What do you know about wandless magic?" Rose said, all in a rush.
Peeves hovered before her for a moment, then veered away, singing the school song at the top of his voice. "Hogwarts - Hogwarts - Hoggy Warty Hogwarts - "
"Do you want those Dungbombs or not?" Rose said sharply, but the poltergeist just kept singing.
"Teach us something pleeeease - " he paused. "Teach me something please, Weaselbee says. Ha!"
"Peeves, I set my dormitory on fire this morning."
"Ooh, Weaselbee's naughty! Worse than Peevsie!" The poltergeist soared up to the ceiling, then dropped like a stone until he was level with Rose. "Weaselbee wants to set the whole castle on fire!"
"I don't," Rose said, shuddering as Peeves shot a spitball right in her face. She reached up to wipe it off, and another struck her hand. "That's why I came to you. I want to know if there's anything I can do to - shut it off."
The poltergeist burst out laughing again, just as the trophy case beside them shattered. Rose cried out and covered her head as the shards of glass rained down on her. "Peeves!"
"See, Weaselbee? Nothing you can do to stop it - nothing Peevsie can do to stop it. Not once the beast is awake, hee hee hee - "
His words sent a chill through Rose, even as she ducked under a fresh shower of glass. "The Dungbombs in Filch's supply closet in the North Tower," she told Peeves through her hands. "Go get them - and please leave me alone."
"Weaselbee's scared of herself," Peeves taunted. "Weaselbee's scared she'll hurt her friends, Weaselbee's going to burn the castle down..."
"Peeves!"
Rose struck out blindly, but the poltergeist vanished in the next instant, his cackles fading on the air. She fell to her knees, examining the cuts on her hands and forearms, feeling her ink-spattered, chalk-dusted face for any more. Peeves's words echoed in her head, ringing her doom...
Another trophy case shattered to her left with a burst of glass, and she swivelled around, ready to shout at the poltergeist, but there was no sign of him. Another one of his tricks, maybe - or -
Her jaw slackened. Or maybe it was her.
"This had better be important," James grumbled as they rounded the corner of the seventh-floor corridor.
"It must be," Albus reasoned with his brother, "If he came all the way up to Gryffindor Tower looking for us."
Scorpius Malfoy was waiting opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy when they rounded the corner, and raised his eyebrows at them.
"You were long enough."
"It's ridiculously early," James pointed out. "Why didn't you just tell Rose about this? You two have had no problem keeping little secrets before."
"Some of us call seven o'clock a perfectly reasonable time to be up and about," Malfoy said, though Albus could have sworn he flushed slightly. "Besides, Potter, I thought you might like to do this before we have an audience of students on their way to breakfast."
"Fair enough," Albus said before his brother could respond. He cast his eyes over the tapestry, and the adjoining wall. "But why does it have to be here?"
Malfoy took a step forward, unclenching his fist to reveal his wand. "I'm going to need one of you to keep watch while I do this."
James made a gesture towards his brother, and Albus smiled. "Thanks for volunteering, James. Right, Malfoy. Go ahead."
Rolling his eyes, his brother went a few paces up the corridor and glanced from left to right while Albus kept watching Malfoy.
Very calmly, the Slytherin raised his wand and drew it across his left palm in a slashing motion. His flesh opened, and, wincing, he pressed the cut to the wall, at the same time murmuring, "Aparecium."
Albus stared as before them, the spidery truth symbol not only formed in black ink on the wall but began to glow, with a fine silvery light that seemed to pass right through its centre. Malfoy's eyes were closed as he kept his hand pressed to the wall, the light glowing brighter as his blood flowed onto the ink. At last it ebbed, and he slouched against the wall as though hit by a sudden bout of weakness. Albus made a surge forward, which was rendered unnecessary in the next instant as Malfoy straightened up.
James pushed past them both, testing the solidity of the wall. He twisted towards Malfoy a moment later.
"Pace up and down past the symbol three times. Think of what you want to access - focus on it."
Though he looked dubious, Malfoy took his hand from the wall and did as James said.
The third time he passed the entrance, the wall opened for him.
Exchanging excited glances, James and Albus followed behind Malfoy as he stepped inside. The gap closed up behind them almost as soon as they had gotten in, and they were left standing in a vast, dusty cavern, with smoke-stained walls and whole aisles of objects that had been burnt beyond recognition.
"The Room of Hidden Things," James said flatly. Flakes of ash drifted past them on the air.
"We can't use this for the meetings," Albus said, adjusting his glasses. "It's too big; anyone could be in here, listening."
"Do you think it can transform into any other room?" Malfoy said, but James shook his head.
"It was damaged during the Battle of Hogwarts. I think the result is that it's stuck in this form, no matter who tries to access it."
"But then where's the entrance to the Hog's Head passage? The one the elves have been using?" Albus pointed out.
James lifted his hands, and his voice echoed in the vast emptiness of the room. "That's the problem. It could be literally anywhere."
Penny Alderton's head perked up as she heard footsteps outside the Slytherin girls' dormitory. For a moment, she was hopeful. Maybe the Secretkeepers had decided to trust her, to let her do something... But then she thought of Orchid, and of the far more likely possibility that she and Torrance had come with fresh orders from Zabini.
She had scrambled up from the desk when the door opened and her brother entered the room.
"Hello, Penny."
"What is it?" she demanded. "What does Zabini want? I've done everything he asked; I've talked to the Secretkeepers, I gave them that map..."
"This isn't about the map."
"Is it Hobspawn? Does he know I'm here?" Penny had already flown to her bed, throwing her things into a haphazard pile and sweeping them into a bag. Her brother followed her, watching calmly.
"He's known for a while, Penny."
"The - what?" She staggered backwards a step, staring at her brother. "Why hasn't he..."
"And as for Zabini," Geoffrey continued as though she had not spoken, "that's why I'm here." With a glance towards her bed, "You might want to sit. I've got a bit of explaining to do."
"James threw you out?" Jackie Saunders exclaimed.
"Keep your voice down." Cassie glared at her friend in the mirror of the girls' bathrooms, then sighed. "But yes, he did. He said he doesn't want anyone knowing about us yet. He's not ready."
"Oh, I've heard that before." Jackie turned on the tap and ran her hands under the cold water. As she dried them, she turned fully to Cassie. "Are you sure you know what you're doing, love?"
"Yes," Cassie said quickly. "It's not a relationship. We agreed that from the start - neither of us want that. It would be too weird, with Rose and everything..."
"That's a difficult thing to agree, though." Jackie fixed the strap of her bag on her shoulder and sighed. "Look, Cassie, no one would blame you if you changed your mind about wanting a relationship - if you started to want more with James. But you've got to make sure that's what he wants too, or else you're going to get hurt."
"Right." Cassie looked at her friend glumly. Then she noticed, for the first time, that Jackie was rather paler than usual. "Are you OK?"
Jackie nodded. "Rose left a candle burning in the dormitory last night. Nearly set the whole place on fire. I got a bit of a scare, that's all." She gave a little shudder, then fixed Cassie with a mischievous glance, with something of an effort. "Probably a good thing you stayed with James."
"I'm not so sure about that," Cassie said in a low voice after her friend had left. She stared into the mirror again, at her own reflection. She was striking, she knew she was, with her coal-black hair and almond shaped eyes and her curves. What was wrong with all of that? Weren't those things that blokes were supposed to like, to fall in love with? What was it about her that wasn't enough for James?
"I'd be careful if I were you."
Through the mirror, Cassie saw the door of the cubicle to the far left open behind her, and then Summer Birchgrove emerged. Moving a hand over her long blonde hair as though to smooth it, she came to stand beside Cassie, whose mouth was hanging open.
"I didn't know - I thought the bathroom was empty," Cassie gasped out, but all the while Summer just gazed at her reflection, her expression thoughtful.
"You can't count on James. Jackie's right - he's going to hurt you. Just like he hurt me."
"It's not the same," Cassie heard herself say, even as her world seemed to have gone hazy at the edges, and she seemed to be in the middle of some bad dream.
Summer smiled tightly. "Oh, of course not. That's what you think, anyway. You think that you're the one he really cared about, all along. Even when he was with me." And, seeing Cassie flinch through the mirror, her smile faded. "I know that you kissed him."
"What?" Cassie took a step back from the sink, her hands shaking. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You kissed him. On Valentine's Day. When he and I were still together." Summer kept watching her, her face implacable.
"How did you - "
"Lisa Harvey saw you. She followed James out to the Quidditch pitch because she was planning on telling him how she felt. She always had her eye on him - but of course you knew that, right? I fell out with her for a while over it. But Lisa and I weren't going to let some bloke come between us. Our friendship's stronger than that." Summer leaned in a little, lowering her voice. "Wish I could say the same for you and Rose Weasley."
A wave of hurt broke over Cassie at those words - hurt that she hadn't even known existed within her. Blind with it, she surged forward, but Summer had already stepped away, and she struck into the sink, almost losing her balance. Another wave of hurt - this time purely physical - and then Summer's parting words faded into her consciousness.
"He's using you, Cassie. He'll drop you in a second."
The sound of the bathroom door closing, and then Cassie slid down to the floor of the bathroom, still gripping the sink as she started to cry.
"I've been covering for you for a while now," Geoffrey said from the window, his hands crossed behind his back while Penny shook her head over and over. She was sitting on her bed. "On both sides. It's thanks to me that the school didn't expel you on the spot - and thanks to me that Zabini sent you back here to get those ingredients."
"I don't understand..."
"You will." Her brother turned to face her, and she saw that his nostrils were flared with anger. "I didn't want you involved in all of this for a very good reason. It wasn't out of brotherly love; it wasn't some protective instinct; it was because you could have ruined everything."
Penny's vision blurred with tears at the severity of her brother's words, and she detested her own weakness. He continued to glare at her as though she were a complete stranger. "I was Hobspawn's man from the start. Harry Potter knew, too. It took a bit to convince Zabini that I wanted to work with him, but once he trusted me, he let me in on the wedding operation. It was perfect, after all - I was Teddy Lupin's best man, which brought me close to the target. After that, they stationed me at the school so that I could get closer to the recruits and keep an eye on what they were doing."
"But how could you be on Harry Potter's side after what you did at the wedding?" Penny choked out. "You were carrying the poison for Hermione Granger."
"It was because of the specific poison I chose that she didn't die on the spot." Geoffrey took a few paces from the window, towards her. "Harry and his Aurors knew there was going to be an attack at the wedding. They just didn't know when, or who - and neither did I. All I knew was the part I had to play in it: carrying the poison. I had no idea Andromeda was working with Zabini at the time - because, you see, he didn't trust me with everything."
"But everything that happened this year... the attack with the werewolves, the symbols, Summer Birchgrove nearly being killed by that Manticore..."
"Albus Potter and Tony Mason being attacked by you?" her brother finished, with a raised eyebrow, and she lowered her head, unable to look him in the eye. "Like I said, the Truthseekers didn't tell me everything. I helped Hobspawn and the Aurors out where I could, but there were certain events that I couldn't prevent without giving myself away to Zabini, others that no one predicted, and well... then there was you. I had no idea what lengths you would go to, Penny."
"It was all to protect you," she hissed through her tears, gritting her teeth. "You know that."
Her brother paused, then clicked his tongue. He moved so that he was kneeling before her, and reached for her chin. Penny tried to jerk away, but he kept a firm hold, forcing her to look him in the eye. "The thing is, sis," he said measuredly, "I'm not so sure that I do."
"I don't know what you mean," she retorted, her voice slightly distorted by his firm grip on her chin, and Geoffrey shook his head.
"I think you were tired of being left out of the loop. I think joining the Truthseekers gave you purpose, Penny. I think you liked it. And I was just the excuse."
"You're wrong," she spat, but Geoffrey simply let go of her chin again, straightening up.
"I never really joined them, Penny." His voice travelled back to her as he turned away once more, making for the window. "But you did, and people got hurt. There will have to be consequences. You know that, don't you?"
"I'm not stupid." Penny gripped the bedpost so hard that it wobbled alarmingly. There was a moment of tense silence, and then she blurted, "Why didn't you say you were working with Zabini?"
Her brother snorted. "Haven't we already had this conversation?"
"If you'd told me from the start that you and Ottelby and Bole were reporting to Zabini, I wouldn't have joined them. Not even to protect you. You could have stopped me."
"No." Geoffrey took a few strides towards her again, then seemed to think better of it and swung away across the room, fists clenched at his sides. "You don't get to put this on me, Penny. I assumed you knew about Zabini. I didn't make a habit of talking about him too often, in case the wrong people were listening. Maybe you should have considered who you might be working for before diving right in."
"Maybe you should stop acting so self-righteous and think about what you've done." Penny rose to her feet, still gripping the bedpost as though her life depended on it. "Because like it or not, Geoff, double agent or whatever you want to call yourself, you've done things for the Truthseekers. Bad things. You don't think there'll be consequences for you, too, when this is all over?"
"Of course I do." Her brother stopped in his tracks, but did not turn. "Hobspawn was very clear. But the nature of the deal we have means that I'll be kept out of Azkaban."
"And what about me?"
Geoffrey threw up his hands. "I've intervened on your behalf too many times to count, Penny. I stopped the Aurors going after you when you fled Hogwarts. I persuaded Hobspawn to let you stay here in return for whatever information you might have a chance of gaining from the Truthseekers."
"He wants to use me for information?" Penny said, aghast. "What kind of Headmaster is he? Shouldn't his first priority be to protect his students, even the ones - well, the ones like me?"
"Maybe. But his hands are tied." Geoffrey faced her. "There's so much that we still don't know. Like how the Truthseekers plan on getting past the castle defences. Or when they're going to attempt to expose Hogwarts to the Muggles. Though the letter Zabini sent to all of the school parents gives us some hint."
"It does?" Nina had shown her a copy of the letter earlier, that her parents had forwarded her. Penny frowned at her brother, her grip on the bedpost slackening. "How?"
"It's a warning." Geoffrey's jaw hardened. "That they're coming soon." He took a step forward. "And now it's time for you to tell me what you know. Tell me everything you heard from Zabini, Orchid, Torrance... whatever you can remember."
"I know even less than you do," Penny pointed out.
Geoffrey's brow furrowed. "Don't play games."
"I'm not - I just - " She stopped short as the doorknob rattled, and they both turned to stare at it.
"Alderton?" called Nina Meyer's voice through the wood of the door. "I don't know what possessed you to lock yourself in, but I would very much like to get to my books - "
A wave of Geoffrey's hand, and the door clicked open. Penny tried to keep her jaw from dropping as Nina stepped in, surveying the room suspiciously. "What's going on?" Her gaze skimmed right over Geoffrey, who had stepped back against the wall, and Penny forced her own eyes to look elsewhere. A Disillusionment Charm, cast without a wand. It seemed that the Truthseekers had taught him a few tricks.
"You look terrible," Nina said as her gaze landed on Penny at last. "What happened?"
"Nothing." Penny swallowed as she watched her brother slip out of the doorway behind Nina. "I'm just sick of being stuck inside here."
"So you keep saying." Nina went to her bed, reaching underneath it for her books. "But I'm afraid I can't help you there, at least not until I've shown the Secretkeepers that map of yours." She met Penny's eye as she made for the door once more. "Then... then we'll see."
Breaking up with Tony Mason was much harder in real life than it had been in Rose's dream.
For one thing, in her dream, she hadn't been covered in ink and chalk dust, the traces of which had stubbornly stuck to her following her encounter with Peeves. For another, there had been no witnesses, as there now undoubtedly were, since they were standing in the Quad, through which a constant stream of professors and students were passing on their way to class. As well as that, she had known exactly what to say, while now...
Now, as she stood before Tony and saw the unshed tears glistening in his eyes, I'm sorry seemed like an awfully hollow thing to say. "Are you going to be all right?" she said instead, keeping her voice down as a knot of Ravenclaw boys looked curiously at them.
Tony jerked his face away as she reached out tentatively. She drew back her hand. "Fine," he said quietly. "I'll be fine, Rose."
"I just - I'm not in a place right now where I can be in a relationship," she said feebly.
"Yeah, I know. You said that already." Tony kept his face averted as Rose went on, lowering his voice even more,
"And if you ever want to talk to someone about the - the Penny thing - I'm here for you, Tony. Please... please know that."
"Thank you, Rose." His voice was clipped, formal, none of the open friendliness in it that had always been there before. A group of girls squeezed past them, breaking into whispers as soon as they saw Tony's face.
Rose gnawed her lip, glancing around the Quad at the waving trees, the cherry blossoms drifting lazily through the air - that detail, at least, resembled her dream somewhat. She looked at the old buildings, breathed in their old, stony smell, mingled with that of the rain, the damp leaves.
"It's Malfoy, isn't it?" Tony said.
Rose, who had been debating whether or not to say her goodbyes now, did a double take. Tony turned his head back to look at her again, and nodded slowly, as though her expression were confirmation enough. "I thought so."
Rose opened her mouth, ready to tell Tony at great length how this had been entirely her own decision: a decision that had been influenced by various factors other than Scorpius Malfoy, but...
But in the end, she just nodded, too. And as Tony Mason walked away from her, she felt that wave of relief again, tinged with that something else: something that sent the blossoms spinning right around her face in a sudden flurry of movement.
"I need to get that looked at," she muttered to no one in particular.
James trotted down the dungeon steps, his robes billowing around his ankles. He tucked the Marauder's Map into his pocket once he had got to the bottom, and rounded the proper number of corners that took him to the entrance of Nott's office.
Cassie stood half-concealed in a corner of the corridor, her figure hazy around the edges. James came right up to her and pressed a finger to her lips as she started in alarm. "Anything?" he whispered.
"He's inside, packing up materials," she replied a little dully, lifting the Disillusionment Charm with a flick of her wand. "It looks like he's not planning on staying much longer."
"Then that letter was definitely about him. I wonder if Hobspawn's given him the heave-ho already."
"He'll be looking for that Basilisk venom." Cassie kept her eyes trained on the door.
"No doubt." Motioning for her to move aside, James took her place in the corner. "The sooner we get to it, the better."
"Right."
James looked down at her. "Something wrong?"
Cassie met his gaze, and smiled. "Everything's fine, James." Standing on tiptoe, she kissed his cheek, "I'll see you at the meeting tonight."
James listened to her footsteps fading away into the growing darkness of the corridor, and frowned to himself.
The classroom at the foot of the Divination Tower was not only cramped, but freezing. Rose gathered her plaid shawl more tightly around her shoulders as a gust of wind outside seemed to shake the whole room. She was curled up in the corner furthest from the window.
"So we've agreed that these letters refer to Nott," James summarised.
"Hobspawn said today at assembly that the name was blotted out," Albus argued with his brother, but only halfheartedly.
"A newly-appointed professor? Who else could it refer to?" James shrugged his shoulders. "So it's only a matter of time before Nott's out of the school. He must know that. Cassie and I have been watching his office, and he's packing up. Looks like his work in the castle is done - or close to being done."
"But he still hasn't got that last ingredient, for whatever he's making." Jeremy Sharpwood sat cross-legged on the only desk in the room. His glasses were slightly askew from tilting his head thoughtfully as he listened to James. "The Basilisk venom. He's probably planning to get it from the Chamber of Secrets."
"Which brings us to that map that Meyer so helpfully provided." James held out his hand, and the Slytherin girl reluctantly got to her feet, handing him the piece of parchment. He frowned at it, then drew out another piece of parchment that Rose knew to be the Marauder's Map, and held the two side by side. "Funny, my own map of the school doesn't show this second entrance anywhere in the boathouse. Then again, it doesn't show the Room of Requirement either."
"The entrance must be Unplottable," Albus supplied. With a glance at Scorpius, "But if it's guarded by another one of those symbols..."
"We'll be able to get in, thanks to Malfoy's discovery." James pushed off his hands, where he had been leaning against the blackboard. "Well, what d'you know? It looks like the Slytherins are finally pulling their weight."
His words were accompanied by a grin of genuine camaraderie, and what Rose found most bizarre of all was that both Nina and Scorpius grinned back at him. Maybe Peeves' attack earlier had given her a concussion, and she was seeing things. Yes, that was the most likely explanation.
"You've got Penny Alderton to thank for that map," Nina said, "But I appreciate the recognition, Potter."
"We've got to get to the Basilisk venom before Nott does," Albus resumed. "There can't be much left - if we get to it before he does..."
"That's the plan." James rubbed his hands together against the cold.
"But even if we do figure out how to disable those symbols, the entrance might need a Parselmouth to get through." Rose's voice was flat as she delivered this point; she was finding it hard to summon any interest in the meeting when the events of the day loomed large in her mind.
"Your dad got into the Chamber of Secrets without the help of a Parselmouth before, didn't he?" James pointed out. "Maybe if you could get him to tell you what word he used..."
Rose snorted. "Right, because that won't make my dad suspicious at all."
"Well, have you got any better ideas, Rose?" Her cousin folded his arms, looking at her questioningly.
She pursed her lips together. From across the room, she could feel Scorpius's gaze on her, but when she looked at him, his eyes had returned to James. "No."
A pause. Then Albus cleared his throat. "We should send someone to scout out the entrance. See if you do need Parseltongue to get in."
"Good idea, Al," James said. "Any volunteers?" He looked around the room, but everyone avoided his gaze, as though he were a professor who had just posed a particularly difficult question and was searching for someone to answer it. Eventually, he sighed. "I thought not. Names in a hat, then."
There was a general mumble of dissent at this, but everyone took the slips of paper that James summoned all the same, scribbling their names on. He waved a wand, and they lifted into the air, shooting one by one into the hat that Rory Finnigan had provided.
Rose knew what the first name out of the hat was going to be before James read it out.
"Malfoy." Slowly, her cousin lowered the paper, and took the next one. "And - " She squeezed her eyes shut, "Rose."
Jem's lip curled; below him, at the foot of the desk, Scorpius was shaking his head and staring at the ground. Cassie and Nina were both staring at Rose, the latter of whom had a knowing look in her eyes. Jackie and Rory, who had been quiet for most of the meeting, seemed just a little out of their depth.
"Right," James said, clapping his hands together. The sound was startling in the empty classroom. "That's settled, then."
Scorpius felt an undeniable sense of déjà vu as he waited on the lawn before the Entrance Hall for Rose.
They had settled on meeting about an hour after the Secretkeepers disbanded for the evening, giving them time to return their dormitories and gather anything they might need. And now she was a few minutes late, and he was remembering as though it had been yesterday that night in October, when she had met him by the statue of the one-eyed witch. He had been so worried about his father, so annoyed by her attempts to be mysterious, and she had held a wand to his head...
It was astonishing to think that so much had changed since then - so much, and yet so little. He and Rose Weasley were still being thrown together against their will... or at least, against hers.
The sound of footsteps came to him, and Scorpius lifted his head as Rose came into view. She had her hands in her pockets, and appeared to be in no great hurry. He regarded her from where he stood. "It's almost curfew, you know."
"I know." She drew up level with him, sighing. "Sorry I'm late. I've had a rough day."
"Yeah, I heard about Mason." Scorpius was careful not to let any emotion show as they descended into the passageway to the boathouse. The walls were slick with moisture around them, the floor steep and treacherous, and they proceeded slowly.
"Word travels fast." Rose sounded tired. "But that wasn't what I was talking about."
Ordinarily, Scorpius would have asked what, then, she had been talking about. But he found that right now, he didn't particularly care. The smell of musky damp wafted towards them as they moved further down the passage, coming to a set of narrow spiral steps. They moved into single file.
One last turn, and then the underground harbour fell away before them, sharp rocks against the deep, dark blue of the lake. Rose paused for a second to gaze at it, forgetting that Scorpius was right behind her. Hearing his "Oof" as he collided with her back, she apologised, moving again. He followed in silence.
Indeed, the only sound as they approached the boats was a steady drip drip drip from the cavern walls, and the occasional slapping of lake water against rock. But as Scorpius made a move for the nearest boat, Rose held out a hand, blocking him.
"What?" he demanded.
"Before we do this, I want to make sure everything's OK between us." Her voice was quiet, but it still echoed slightly in the stillness of the boathouse. He looked at her for a moment, disbelievingly, then stepped past her, pushing her hand away. "Scorpius - "
"Let's just get this over with," he muttered.
"Why won't you talk to me?" Rose followed close on his heels, agitated.
"I think that much is pretty obvious, Rose," Scorpius said flatly, coming level with the first boat. He tested his weight with one foot, then stepped in. Rose stayed where she was, by the water's edge.
"What I said, the other day - "
"I don't want to hear it," Scorpius interrupted. She stared at him from the shore, and he went on, "You made things very clear."
"But..." Rose wrung her hands, and he almost felt sorry for her. Almost. "Can't we just - forget it happened? Start fresh?"
Scorpius stared at her. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, rising slowly from his seat in the bow. "Why are we really here?"
"What do you mean?" she said, too quickly. Scorpius continued to watch her for a moment more, and then shook his head bitterly. With one hand, he tossed his satchel back onto the rocks, then followed after it, stepping out of the boat rather less nimbly than he had stepped in. Her voice rose. "What are you doing?"
He took a few paces, getting his balance on the rocks, then turned to face her. "You rigged the selection of names in the meeting earlier. Didn't you? You made sure that we would be chosen."
Rose didn't deny it. Her eyes lowered, and she scuffed her foot on the rock. Her voice was very small as she said, "I just want things to go back to the way they were."
"You're unbelievable." Scorpius shook his head again, then detached a leather pouch from his side and tossed it to her. She caught it, bewildered. "There's Gillyweed in there. Enough for two people. If you're still set on looking for this entrance, feel free to use it."
"So what, you're just going to leave me here?" Her voice echoed after him as he turned his back on her. For the first time, there was an edge of anger to it. As though she had any right... "You're just going to give up on this?"
Scorpius took a deep breath, without turning. His shoulders rose and fell. He summoned the right words in his mind - harsh but not cruel, calm rather than angry - but before he could deliver them, something green shot out of a gap between the rocks, wrapped itself around his ankle and dragged him down into the dark.
A splash, then silence.
"Scorpius!" Rose yelled, not caring who heard. "Scorpius!" She stumbled over the rocks, scrambling down into the water's edge, submerging herself wholly in the black.
It was cold - oh, so, so cold. Her muscles seized up for the first few seconds, but she swam deeper. She opened her eyes, but saw only blackness. Her wand - oh, where was her wand? She couldn't feel it in her pocket.
Rose heard something like a muffled cry reverberate through the water towards her, and then something lit within her, and she threw out a hand. A beam of fiery light stretched out before her, shining through the murky deep. She turned this way and that, the water dragging at her, and then the light shone on blond hair.
Scorpius was struggling with whatever creature had dragged him down, close to the lakebed. Rose saw it to be a Grindylow as she swam closer. A rather large one, that was attempting to wrap its brittle fingers around Scorpius's neck in a choke hold. Rose felt a cry of outrage bubble in her throat, and she splayed her hand again.
A jet of boiling water arced through the water, striking the Grindylow soundly on the neck. It wheeled away, letting go of Scorpius...
And then the water around them began to heat up.
Rose remembered, in panic, Peeves' mocking words. Nothing you can do to stop it - not once the beast is awake. She had done this. This was her fault.
Calm. Calm. She had to stay calm. The heat was growing unbearable, but in a few strokes she reached Scorpius. His hand closed on hers, and together they floated up, up, up -
And broke the surface. Sweet, cold air battered their faces, and then Scorpius had her by the waist and was dragging her out of the water. They threw themselves onto the rocks near one of the boats, which started rocking in the shallows as the water of the lake boiled and bubbled around them.
"What - the - hell - was that?" Scorpius gasped once he had gotten his breath back. Rose didn't answer, just crossed what little space was between them and threw her arms around his neck.
"I'm so sorry," she gasped. "Are you OK? Are you hurt?" Her hands felt his face, his soaking hair. There were no boundaries now, all she cared about was that he was alive and safe and... "Oh, God, Scorpius - "
"I'm fine, Rose." He recoiled from her touch, pulling back to face her fully. Behind them, the water bubbled fiercely, and he glanced at it, then back at her, his eyes sombre. "Rose... are you doing that? Without a wand?"
"I don't know." Rose put her hands to her forehead, shaking her head. "I - I think so..."
"How?" He was regarding her with a mixture of awe and fear in his eyes, and she decided then and there that she did not like that at all - she did not like him looking at her like that... As the panic rose within her once more, the lake water began to steam, and Scorpius shook his head, grasping her hands in his, his pupils dilated as he stared at her. "It doesn't matter. Rose, you have to calm down."
She shook her head. "I know, I'm trying, but it's not helping..." As if in answer, a sizzling jet of water spurted behind them, and Scorpius ducked, taking Rose with him so that they were both kneeling on the rocks. "It's OK. It's OK. Look at me, Rose."
Sweat was beginning to break out on her forehead, and a high, fevered flush painted her cheeks. She looked at him, and Scorpius squeezed her hands. "I've read something about this - about when wandless magic gets out of control. We need to bleed you, to let the magic breathe. It's an old trick."
Rose's eyes widened, but she said, as another jet of water sizzled into nothing a few inches from them, "Do it."
Nodding, Scorpius turned Rose's right palm over, and with his free hand, he trailed his wand along its width. She winced, and he murmured an apology as blood bubbled up along the width of her palm.
Casting a glance up at his face as they knelt with their heads close together, amid the steam of the boiling lake, Rose saw that the fear had left his eyes - replaced with softness, understanding.
"There you are," she heard him say a moment later, as the waters of the lake settled into calm blackness once more, the steam dispersing. The gentleness in his voice... Rose squeezed her eyes shut.
"Thank you."
He let go of her hands, and rose to his feet. "I'm the one who should be thanking you, after you saved me from that Grindylow."
"That was before I nearly scalded us both alive."
"Yeah, about that..." Scorpius frowned at her as she stood. "Wandless magic?"
"I've been reading up on it. I suppose I took my study a bit too far." Rose's voice was grim as she moved to recover her wand, which lay on a nearby rock, wood glistening wetly.
"How did you know to do that?" she asked him as she began to heal the cut in her hand. "Bleeding the power out like that?"
Scorpius shrugged his shoulders. "Let's just say I had blood magic on the brain after today."
"Good thing you did." Rose watched the skin on her palm stitch itself together. "So what should we do?"
There was a pause, and then, "I'm still up for looking for the entrance if you are."
She had to work hard to hold back a smile, for a swell of gladness seized her at his response.
"As long as there are no more incidents," he added, half-jokingly, and Rose smiled in earnest now.
"No more incidents. I promise."
Once they had dried themselves with magic, Rose and Scorpius made their careful way across the rocks to the nearest boat, wands poised against any further attack. No more creatures lunged at them from the deep; perhaps because they had been driven away by the boiling water. Or even - no, Rose did not want to think of what her loss of control had cost this time.
As soon as they loaded themselves into the boat, placing their bags on the empty seats as extra weights, it pushed off from the rocks, moving soundlessly through the water. Rose leaned over the bow, glancing into the depths, and then drew back. Scorpius, sitting in the stern, was watching her with a quietness that made her heart thump faster.
"I can't believe the last time we were in one of these was first year," she offered.
"Feels like a lifetime ago," he said, his eyes drifting away from hers for a moment as they entered the tunnel to the open lake, the movement of the boat slowing. "Better keep our eyes peeled. According to the map, the passage to the entrance should be somewhere near here."
Rose nodded, casting her wand up towards the roof of the tunnel, over the walls. Then - "There!" she exclaimed.
A gap in the wall, a patch of yawning black near the surface that she would have easily missed had she not been looking for it. Scorpius flicked his wand, and the boat ground to a stop. "Can we reach it, or will we have to swim?"
Rose reached out, testing the space with her arms. "It's close enough." Moving back into the boat, she wound the strap of her satchel around her waist, securing the body of it on her back, and then, reaching out again, found a grip on the wall. She pulled herself in, across the narrow space of water. Scorpius's hand brushed her back before she left the boat completely. "Be careful."
"See you on the other side," she responded, and ducked into the gap.
Discomfort seized her as she felt the narrowness of the crawl space around her - barely the width of her shoulders. The roof brushed her head even when she was on her belly, and the sense of claustrophobia came and went as on she crawled, until eventually the space widened into a passage, the roof rising enough to allow her to walk, if she stooped. Turning back, she called through to Scorpius. An answering, albeit muffled, response told her he was on his way.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she turned back to face the passage. Her wandlight fell over a blank section of wall - a dead end, only a few paces away. That had to be it.
Rose produced her wand and said into the silence, "Aparecium."
Sure enough, the truth symbol formed on the stone, beginning from its centre and spreading outwards like a spider until it covered the entire wall. Half-moon, black and white - or black and grey, in this case. She stared at it, wide-eyed, as the sound of Scorpius's footsteps came up behind her.
"So what now? More blood magic?" she asked him, without looking around.
"Very good, Miss Weasley. But I'm afraid I can't let you do that."
Rose blinked, then turned slowly. Behind her stood not Scorpius, but Professor Nott, his wand pointed at her head.
"How did you get here?" Rose gasped.
The Potions master inclined his head towards her. "The same way you did, Miss Weasley. I took a boat."
"Where's Scorpius?"
"I thought he would be better off waiting outside."
"You thought wrong." Behind Nott, Scorpius emerged through the gap in the wall, stopping in his tracks as he saw that the Potions master had his wand on Rose. "Professor - what do you think you're doing?"
"What is necessary to stop you two from making a very serious mistake." Nott turned slightly, keeping his wand trained on Rose as he indicated the symbol on the wall with his other hand. "Do you understand what that it is?"
"Of course we do," Rose snapped. "It's the truth symbol."
"Correct," Nott said, as calmly as though she had just delivered an answer in class. "And how do you gain access to what lies behind?"
This time it was Scorpius who answered. "By making a blood sacrifice."
"Correct again." Nott's face was implacable. "But I'm afraid you're missing one very important detail. You see, that symbol doesn't just take your blood as an offering. It also drains some of your magical energy with it."
Scorpius paled. "You mean - "
"These symbols aren't just gateways," the Potions master went on, that arresting quality in his voice now that any student of his would have recognised well. "They are repositories of magic - magic that unwitting students have been feeding to them all year. And now you and Miss Weasley are about to make your own contribution."
"He's lying," Rose said to Scorpius, her eyes narrowed in disbelief now. "He's just trying to stall us."
"How do you think that Muggle got into the grounds last month?" Nott said then, and Scorpius froze. "The castle defences are made of ancient magic - but not so ancient as these symbols. Think of all that accumulated power. It is made to drain; to break down the protective spells around Hogwarts."
"Why are you telling us this?" Rose demanded.
"Because I think you ought to know, before you go hunting down the Basilisk venom, that you are playing right into Blaise Zabini's hands." Nott raised his eyebrows delicately. "Who do you think gave Penny Alderton that map she so willingly volunteered to your cause? And those ingredients that you found - who do you think had them planted there for that very purpose?"
"No," Rose said in a low voice. "Why would Zabini want us to find the Basilisk venom?"
"I really can't answer for that wizard's actions, but I can guess." Nott's pale gaze drifted over to Scorpius. "He's a busy man; perhaps he thought to save himself the trouble of going to get it himself. But you can be sure of this: Zabini will take what he wants."
"Why not just get the ingredients off you?" Rose pointed out.
Nott did not look away from Scorpius, smiling tightly. "It seems that I have outlived my usefulness to Zabini. As evidenced by this." In his left hand, the Potions master produced the anonymous letter that Hobspawn had read to them earlier that day in assembly. "A pity, that he had to resort to such crude methods."
"So you've been working with the Truthseekers this whole time?" Rose exclaimed.
Professor Nott shook his head slowly. "Not the Truthseekers, per se. Blaise Zabini and I had a particular arrangement. And until recently, he trusted in my discretion."
"What changed his mind?" Scorpius asked, through gritted teeth.
Nott watched him for a moment. "Maybe you can tell me, Mr. Malfoy. He is your uncle, and you have many shared memories together..."
Rose hadn't thought it was possible for Scorpius to go any paler, but at Nott's words, he did. The Potions master went on smoothly,
"Perhaps one memory in particular stands out for you, Mr. Malfoy."
Scorpius was trembling, whether with anger or fear, Rose could not tell, his lips clamped together tightly.
"The memory of Hallowe'en night, seven years ago. Do you remember that far back, Mr. Malfoy? Oh, of course you do."
"What's he talking about, Scorpius?" Rose said quietly.
"I apologise, Miss Weasley; I assume you knew. How rude of me." Calmly, Nott looked from her to Scorpius, a question in his eyes.
A pause, then,
"You win," Scorpius said flatly. "We won't try to get the venom, or any of the other ingredients. We won't interfere any more. Just let us go."
Even as Rose's head twisted towards him, her eyes wide with disbelief, Scorpius kept his gaze fixed on Nott, who eventually nodded. Taking Rose's arm, Scorpius steered her back, out of the passage. And for once, she was too tired to fight.
"You realise that was exactly what he wanted."
"I realise that, yes." Scorpius stared into the merry flames of the huge brick fireplace. The Hogwarts kitchens were almost deserted, except for a couple of house-elves polishing pots and pans in the corner of the room. They had come here to warm themselves after they got back from the boathouse, despite the late hour. "But it was the lesser of two evils. Playing into Nott's hands or playing into Zabini's." He met her gaze briefly. "I suppose you thought I gave up too easily."
"No," Rose said. She was sitting a few paces away from him, on the edge of one of the large tables that mirrored those upstairs in the Great Hall. Swinging her legs beneath her, she added, "What I thought was that you really, really didn't want Nott to tell me that story about you and Zabini."
Scorpius, seated on the stone floor with his back to the edge of the mantelpiece, shrugged his shoulders, the mug of tea clutched in his hands virtually untouched.
"Are you going to tell me now?" she persisted.
"It's not a nice story."
"I didn't think it was."
A silence, during which all that could be heard was the clattering of pans, the whistling of one of the house-elves, and the crackling of the fire. The smell of toast drifted towards them, and Rose breathed it in, before taking another sip from her cup of hot chocolate.
"You were right," Scorpius said at last, setting down his mug. Seconds later, it was whisked away by a house-elf. He did not speak again until it was out of earshot. "The other day, when you said that it would never work between us. Because of our families." He raised his eyes to her. "My family in particular."
Rose looked at him, wanting to contradict him, to tell him that wasn't what she had meant... But instead, she put down her own mug and slid down to the floor so that she was directly opposite him, arms wrapped around her legs as she listened.
Scorpius blew out a breath, and began.
"We always used to spend Hallowe'en at my uncle and aunt's house in Derbyshire when I was younger. But one year, a few days before we were due to come down, Aunt Daphne visited our house in Charing Cross with the kids. Said she needed to stay for a while - that she and my uncle had had a fight. I was around nine; I didn't understand how serious it was, that Zabini had straight up left my aunt and the kids, and that he wasn't coming back. I remember just being disappointed that we couldn't have a bonfire." He smiled ruefully, then went on.
"The evening of Hallowe'en, I was waiting for my cousins to get back from the shops with Aunt Daphne so that I could bring them trick-or-treating. I was dressed up as a vampire. Unoriginal, I know. My mother had helped me make the costume. She'd just stepped out to meet my aunt and Tobias on the road. And since my dad was still at work, I was left alone in the house for a few minutes.
'The doorbell rang, and I ran to answer it, thinking it was them. I got into full character as I opened the door; hissing and everything, pulling the cape up over my face. But it wasn't my mum standing there. It was my uncle Blaise, and he laughed as soon as he saw me, pretended he couldn't recognise me. He said everything was made up between him and my aunt, and that they were waiting for me over in Diagon Alley. That there was going to be a bonfire there. Well, you can't imagine how happy that made me. My needs were fairly simple back then." Scorpius shook his head, his eyes growing more distant as he drew from the memory further.
'So I went along with my uncle. I didn't realise that there was anything wrong until we walked right past the Leaky Cauldron without stopping, and down an abandoned street. Then, once there were no Muggles in sight, Blaise stopped, grabbed my arm and Apparated us both to Godric's Hollow.
'He wouldn't answer any of my questions when we arrived, just dragged me along. The place was packed with trick-or-treaters, Muggles and wizards alike. And everyone seemed to know each other - not like in London. I'd never seen anything like it before. Blaise nicked a couple of masks from one of the stalls in the village square, one for me and one for himself. There were fireworks - I remember feeling scared and excited all at once. It was an adventure." Scorpius paused, and when he resumed, there was something harder in his voice.
"We stopped at this old stone house, all hung with ivy. Zabini rang the doorbell, just as he'd done in Charing Cross. And when the door was opened, he Disarmed the witch who stood there, pushing past her into the house.
'I remember there was a lot of shouting then. A wizard came running down the stairs, but Blaise had him Disarmed too, before he could fire any curse. And then Zabini put a wand to the witch's head and said to the wizard, I remember, he said - " Scorpius swallowed hard.
'He said, "How much does your wife's life mean to you?" And she started crying, and he disarmed her too, bound her up, and then two children came down the stairs, a girl and a boy. The boy was nearly grown up - he tried to attack Zabini, but Zabini pushed the witch away and held me in front of him as a shield. Once the boy and girl were tied up like their mother, Zabini brought the wizard forward. Made him kneel. And he unrolled his own sleeve to show his Dark Mark and then he said, 'Rufus Alderton, you are being tried on suspicion of crimes against Mugglekind. How do you plead?'"
(***)
Penny's father.
Rose had always heard that he had been killed by a backfiring wand. All these years, and Penny had never told them. Scorpius had not told them, either... She remembered how he had stood up for Penny at that meeting, insisted she was telling the truth when she said that she would not work with Zabini.
Zabini... who had killed Penny's father just as heartlessly as he had killed Andromeda. Rose felt a wave of icy cold pass over her, and reached out to grasp Scorpius's hand. She wasn't sure if it was more to reassure him or herself.
His voice was muffled when he spoke again. "Zabini made out like it was a trial, a punishment because Alderton was an Obliviator. But he silenced Alderton - didn't let him speak for himself. And all I can remember is his wife screaming as Zabini sentenced him to death. And the little girl - Penny - was just sitting there on the staircase, dry-eyed. She wouldn't look away from her father. And I - I couldn't look away either. Even when Zabini fired a Killing Curse at Rufus Alderton at close range."
Scorpius looked down at their joined hands as he paused.
"Things get hazy after that. Zabini disappeared, and Aurors arrived, and someone took me back home. My mum and dad were waiting for me, worried out of their minds. They sat me down and made me tell them everything. And then... Dad said I was too young to have such a terrible memory, but Mum wouldn't let him remove it. Said it was a part of me now, and there was nothing that they could do about it."
"What happened after that?" Rose said, her voice hushed. "Didn't the Aldertons bring charges against Zabini?"
Scorpius breathed in deeply, letting go of her hand as he rose to his feet and turned towards the fireplace. "No charges. There was a search for a while, after he went on the run... but once it became clear that they weren't going to find him any time soon, Sophie Alderton refused any further media coverage. Said she wanted a normal life for her kids. She must have had friends in the Prophet, because what should have been a high-profile case was hushed up in the papers. Which explains why most people in the school don't know about the connection."
"Why did he do it?" Rose whispered.
"Zabini? Who knows." The corner of Scorpius's mouth twisted bitterly. "My mother was an Obliviator, too, but Zabini wouldn't have laid a finger on her. So it can't have just been about Alderton's job. It had to be personal."
"And what about your aunt? What did she do, after?" Rose remembered the severe, sharp-faced woman she had seen with Scorpius in Madam Malkin's. The pain that witch must have gone through... the betrayal...
"She estranged herself from Zabini completely. Changed hers and the kids' name back to Greengrass, moved across the country. She even stopped visiting us as much, as if we reminded her too much of her old life." He considered. "Or maybe it was because of me. Because I had been there when it happened - when Blaise Zabini well and truly turned. And I did nothing to stop it."
Rose shook her head, her hair flicking around her face. "Don't talk like that."
"Like what?" Scorpius did not turn.
"Like it was your fault. You were only a kid, Scorpius." Pushing onto her feet, she moved behind him, resting her hands on his shoulders tentatively, squeezing them. "Scorpius. It was not your fault."
He shrugged off her touch without so much as a glance. Rose took a step back, and then another. Unexpectedly, tears of hurt pricked her eyelids. Perhaps the story had affected her more than she even realised. Or perhaps that deep cold settling within her had less to do with that, and more to do with the fact that Scorpius could not even bring himself to look at her.
Rose dashed away her tears, and turned on her heel to go. Because she could not bear not to look at him, to touch him, to comfort him, and if that made her selfish, too, then... so be it.
She had made it halfway across the kitchens when she heard Scorpius's quick step behind her. Turning again, she drew in a deep, shuddering breath, but before she could say anything, he was cupping her face in his hands and kissing her, the threads of his sleeves brushing her cheeks, and Rose was clasping his forearms and raising herself up on tiptoes and kissing him back. In some distant world, pots and pans clattered and clashed, and house-elves went on whistling.
The doubts would come later. Doubts as to whether this was right, or good, or if it just felt good... Doubts as to whether they could ever be friends again.
Whether anything could ever be normal again.
Later.